What are roots in a word

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A root (or root word) is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements.^[1] In morphology, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a prefix or a suffix can attach.^[2][3] The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family (this root is then called the base word), which carries aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents.
Content words in nearly all languages contain, and may consist only of, root morphemes. However, sometimes the term «root» is also used to describe the word without its inflectional endings, but with its lexical endings in place. For example, chatters has the inflectional root or lemma chatter, but the lexical root chat. Inflectional roots are often called stems, and a root in the stricter sense, a root morpheme, may be thought of as a monomorphemic stem.

The traditional definition allows roots to be either free morphemes or bound morphemes. Root morphemes are the building blocks for affixation and compounds. However, in polysynthetic languages with very high levels of inflectional morphology, the term «root» is generally synonymous with «free morpheme». Many such languages have a very restricted number of morphemes that can stand alone as a word: Yup’ik, for instance, has no more than two thousand.

The root is conventionally indicated using the mathematical symbol √; for instance, the Sanskrit root «√bhū-» means the root «bhū-«.

Examples[edit]

The root of a word is a unit of meaning (morpheme) and, as such, it is an abstraction, though it can usually be represented alphabetically as a word. For example, it can be said that the root of the English verb form running is run, or the root of the Spanish superlative adjective amplísimo is ampli-, since those words are derived from the root forms by simple suffixes that do not alter the roots in any way. In particular, English has very little inflection and a tendency to have words that are identical to their roots. But more complicated inflection, as well as other processes, can obscure the root; for example, the root of mice is mouse (still a valid word), and the root of interrupt is, arguably, rupt, which is not a word in English and only appears in derivational forms (such as disrupt, corrupt, rupture, etc.). The root rupt can be written as if it were a word, but it is not.

This distinction between the word as a unit of speech and the root as a unit of meaning is even more important in the case of languages where roots have many different forms when used in actual words, as is the case in Semitic languages. In these, roots (semitic roots) are formed by consonants alone, and speakers elaborate different words (belonging potentially to different parts of speech) from the root by inserting different vowels. For example, in Hebrew, the root ג-ד-ל g-d-l represents the idea of largeness, and from it we have gadol and gdola (masculine and feminine forms of the adjective «big»), gadal «he grew», higdil «he magnified» and magdelet «magnifier», along with many other words such as godel «size» and migdal «tower».

Roots and reconstructed roots can become the tools of etymology.^[4]

Secondary roots[edit]

Secondary roots are roots with changes in them, producing a new word with a slightly different meaning. In English, a rough equivalent would be to see conductor as a secondary root formed from the root to conduct. In abjad languages, the most familiar of which are Arabic and Hebrew, in which families of secondary roots are fundamental to the language, secondary roots are created by changes in the roots’ vowels, by adding or removing the long vowels a, i, u, e and o. (Notice that Arabic does not have the vowels e and o.) In addition, secondary roots can be created by prefixing (m−, t−), infixing (−t−), or suffixing (−i, and several others). There is no rule in these languages on how many secondary roots can be derived from a single root; some roots have few, but other roots have many, not all of which are necessarily in current use.

Consider the Arabic language:

• مركز [mrkz] or [markaza] meaning ‘centralized (masculine, singular)’, from [markaz] ‘centre’, from [rakaza] ‘plant into the earth, stick up (a lance)’ ( ر-ك-ز | r-k-z). This in turn has derived words مركزي [markaziy], meaning ‘central’, مركزية [markaziy:ah], meaning ‘centralism’ or ‘centralization’, and لامركزية, [la:markaziy:ah] ‘decentralization’^[5]
• أرجح [rjh] or [ta’arjaħa] meaning ‘oscillated (masculine, singular)’, from [‘urju:ħa] ‘swing (n)’, from [rajaħa] ‘weighed down, preponderated (masculine, singular)’ ( ر-ج-ح | r-j-ħ).
• محور [mhwr] or [tamaħwara] meaning ‘centred, focused (masculine, singular)’, from [mihwar] meaning ‘axis’, from [ħa:ra] ‘turned (masculine, singular)’ (ح-و-ر | h-w-r).
• مسخر [msxr], تمسخر [tamasxara] meaning ‘mocked, made fun (masculine, singular)’, from مسخرة [masxara] meaning ‘mockery’, from سخر [saxira] ‘mocked (masculine, singular)’ (derived from س-خ-ر[s-x-r]).»^[6] Similar cases may be found in other Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic, Maltese language and to a lesser extent Amharic.

Similar cases occur in Hebrew, for example Israeli Hebrew מ-ק-מ‎ √m-q-m ‘locate’, which derives from Biblical Hebrew מקום‎ måqom ‘place’, whose root is ק-ו-מ‎ √q-w-m ‘stand’. A recent example introduced by the Academy of the Hebrew Language is מדרוג‎ midrúg ‘rating’, from מדרג‎ midrág, whose root is ד-ר-ג‎ √d-r-g ‘grade’.»^[6]

According to Ghil’ad Zuckermann, «this process is morphologically similar to the production of frequentative (iterative) verbs in Latin, for example:

• iactito ‘to toss about’ derives from iacto ‘to boast of, keep bringing up, harass, disturb, throw, cast, fling away’, which in turn derives from iacio ‘to throw, cast’ (from its past participle iactum).^[6]

Consider also Rabbinic Hebrew ת-ר-מ‎ √t-r-m ‘donate, contribute’ (Mishnah: T’rumoth 1:2: ‘separate priestly dues’), which derives from Biblical Hebrew תרומה‎ t’rūmå ‘contribution’, whose root is ר-ו-מ‎ √r-w-m ‘raise’; cf. Rabbinic Hebrew ת-ר-ע‎ √t-r-‘ ‘sound the trumpet, blow the horn’, from Biblical Hebrew תרועה‎ t’rū`å ‘shout, cry, loud sound, trumpet-call’, in turn from ר-ו-ע‎ √r-w-`.»^[6]
and it describes the suffix.

Category-neutral roots[edit]

Decompositional generative frameworks suggest that roots hold little grammatical information and can be considered «category-neutral».^[7] Category-neutral roots are roots without any inherent lexical category but with some conceptual content that becomes evident depending on the syntactic environment.^[7] The ways in which these roots gain lexical category are discussed in Distributed Morphology and the Exoskeletal Model.

Theories adopting a category-neutral approach have not, as of 2020, reached a consensus about whether these roots contain a semantic type but no argument structure,^[8] neither semantic type nor argument structure,^[9] or both semantic type and argument structure.^[10]

In support of the category-neutral approach, data from English indicates that the same underlying root appears as a noun and a verb — with or without overt morphology.^[7]

In Hebrew, the majority of roots consist of segmental consonants √CCC. Arad (2003) describes that the consonantal root is turned into a word due to pattern morphology. Thereby, the root is turned into a verb when put into a verbal environment where the head bears the «v» feature (the pattern).^[11]

Consider the root √š-m-n (ש-מ-נ).

Root √š-m-n (ש-מ-נ) in Hebrew^[11]

Pattern	Pronounced word	Gloss
CeCeC (n)	šemen	oil, grease
CaCCeCet (n)	šamenet	cream
CuCaC (n)	šuman	fat
CaCeC (adj)	šamen	fat
hiCCiC (v)	hišmin	grow fat/fatten
CiCCeC (n)	šimen	grease

Although all words vary semantically, the general meaning of a greasy, fatty material can be attributed to the root.

Furthermore, Arad states that there are two types of languages in terms of root interpretation. In languages like English, the root is assigned one interpretation whereas in languages like Hebrew, the root can form multiple interpretations depending on its environment. This occurrence suggests a difference in language acquisition between these two languages. English speakers would need to learn two roots in order to understand two different words whereas Hebrew speakers would learn one root for two or more words.^[11]

Root comparison between English and Hebrew (adapted from Syntactic Categorization of Roots^[7])

English Root	English Word	Hebrew Root	Hebrew Word	Gloss
√CREAM	cream	√š-m-n ש-מ-נ	šamenet	‘cream’
√FAT	fat	√š-m-n ש-מ-נ	šuman	‘fat’

Alexiadou and Lohndal (2017) advance the claim that languages have a typological scale when it comes to roots and their meanings and state that Greek lies in between Hebrew and English.^[12]

See also[edit]

• Lemma (morphology)
• Lexeme
• Morphological typology
• Morphology (linguistics)
• Phono-semantic matching
• Principal parts
• Proto-Indo-European root
• Radical (Chinese character) (this is more based upon a writing system than a spoken language)
• Semitic root
• Word family
• Word stem

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Virtual Salt Root words and prefixes
• Espindle — Greek and Latin Root Words

In any language it is impossible to imagine a word without a root. There are also words that consist only of the root: boron, house, stake. Other morphemes have an auxiliary, complementary function, and only at the root is meaning.

A root in linguistics is a part of a word or morpheme that contains the meaning of a word, its conceptual kernel. Other morphemes (suffixes, prefixes, endings) have no independent meaning. They only add additional shades to the main meaning. Anyone who speaks Russian will understand perfectly well that the «tail» is not at all the same as the «tail», but in both cases it is about the same part of the animal’s body, because these words have a common root.

Single-root words

All words that have the same root are called same root. They can belong both to one part of speech (cat — cat — cat — cat), and to different (start — start — start).

Difficult words

There is always one root in the word. But there are words with two roots. Such words are called difficult. So, the word «pedestrian» has two roots: «pedestrian» and «move».

Homonymous roots

There are words whose roots are spelled the same, but they have different meanings. These are the roots of homonyms — words that are the same in spelling, but different in meaning: the words «key» in the meaning of «source» and «key» in the meaning of «device for opening the door, master key» are written in the same way, but the word «key» in the first meaning a single-root word will be, for example, «key (water)», and in the second meaning — «key-keeper».

Alternating sounds at the root

It happens that vowels or consonants in the same root are written differently in different words of the same root, alternating, for example, «run — run» or «put — adjective». The rules help to understand exactly how the root is spelled in a particular word. Sometimes it depends on whether the vowel is under stress, or not (tan — tanned), sometimes on which letter the root ends with (grew — grown), sometimes on the meaning of the word, for example, dip (immerse in liquid) and get wet (soak with moisture) … The alternation of sounds is due to historical processes occurring in the language (historical alternation) or pronunciation features (phonetic alternation).

Splicing roots

As a result of changes in the language, some roots «merged» with prefixes, suffixes. In such words, one can distinguish the historical (etymological) root and the modern, accepted in the language at the moment. So, in the word «factory» the etymological root of «waters», modern — «plant». Such roots are called linked. The roots of modern words that coincide with etymological ones are called free — there are most of them in the Russian language.

Popular by topic

We use words constantly to express ourselves and exchange thoughts with others. We write, speak, hear, read, and listen to words. Some research suggests the average person can speak from 4,000 to 7,000 words in a day.

All words have origins that might date from days to millennia since their inception. The English language is about 1,400 years old; one of the earliest-known English dictionaries, The Elementarie (1582), contained 8,000 words. Today’s English dictionaries can include up to hundreds of thousands of them.

Words can be complex or simple. Different word parts also can combine to form new words with new meanings. The root of a word—also referred to by some as a base word—is its primary morpheme, which is the smallest grammatical unit that cannot be divided further into parts. Every word in American English has at least one morpheme.

The grammatical unit can be a free morpheme, which is a word that can stand alone, or a bound morpheme, which is an affix (a prefix or a suffix) that cannot stand alone but can form a word by combining with other morphemes.

More than half of English words have roots in Latin and Greek. Many words also have German, French, and Spanish origins, which often have their own Latin roots as well.

When standing alone, the foreign root words themselves might not always make sense to English writers and speakers, but we can quickly recognize their contributions to our lexicon when they are combined with other word parts.

Root	Meaning	Origin	Word
carn	flesh or meat	Latin	carnal, carnivore
deca	ten (10)	Latin	decade, decameter
tele	distant	Greek	telephone, telegram
mal	bad, evil	Latin	malice, malpractice
psycho	soul, spirit	Greek	psychic, psychology

In our contemporary English vocabulary, we can readily infer the different parts of words, including their roots and prefixes or suffixes.

Word	Root	Prefix	Suffix
unkindness	kind	un-	-ness
action	act		-ion
misplayed	play	mis-	-ed
fearless	fear		-less

Word Roots in Different Parts of Speech

You may have noticed that roots appear in parts of speech other than nouns. They also apply to verbs, adverbs, and adjectives, as in the following recognizable English words.

Word	Part of Speech	Root	Prefix	Suffix
description	noun	script	de-	-ion
disappear	verb	appear	dis-
nicest	adjective	nice		-est
aimlessly	adverb	aim		-less, -ly

Those familiar with English know that in the preceding words, the root has an understood meaning, and the prefixes and suffixes offer much less meaning to us without the root. When combined, however, they form a word that can express.

Let’s look at a few more words with Greek and Latin roots:

Word	Part of Speech	Root	Origin
bibliophile	noun	biblio (book), phil (love)	Greek
(to) chronicle	verb	chrono (time)	Greek
benevolent	adjective	bene (good)	Latin
ambiguously	adverb	ambi (both)	Latin

Word Roots for Expanding Vocabulary

Being familiar with word roots and how words originate becomes a versatile tool in building vocabulary and interpreting unfamiliar words.

For example, many versed in English recognize that the Greek root “phobia” stands for “fear.” Sometimes that root is attached to prefixes we readily know, such as with claustrophobia (fear of small, confined spaces) and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).

We also might encounter words such as demophobia (fear of crowds) and anthrophobia (fear of flowers). We might not instantly recognize the fear the prefix identifies, but because we understand the word root, we’re halfway to comprehension.

Understanding roots also helps to better deconstruct words. For example, uncharacteristically is a 20-letter adverb common to English vernacular that means “not consistent with established or expected qualities or attributes” (e.g., James is uncharacteristically late).

This word contains four parts (morphemes): character (root, free morpheme), un- (prefix, bound morpheme), -istic (suffix, bound morpheme), and -ally (suffix, bound morpheme). Breaking the full word down this way can simplify the spelling of it as well as our initial insight into its meaning, even if we understand only a couple of parts as opposed to all of them.

(Character stems from the Greek charassein: “to sharpen, cut in furrows, or engrave.” This word also gave the Greeks charaktēr: “a mark; a distinctive quality,” a meaning the Latin character shared. English adopted character in the 14th century to express “a distinctive differentiating mark” as one of the word’s earliest English meanings.)

Word Roots and Affixes for Word-Count Reduction

Understanding word roots and their conjoining parts further can support written precision by allowing us to reduce word count.

Examples

against the establishment > anti-establishment (three words to one word with three morphemes: anti-, establish, -ment)

to act against > counteract (three words to one word with two morphemes: counter-, act)

Shelly is the one who can run with more speed than any other runner on the team >
Shelly is the fastest runner on the team (Seventeen words to eight words, achieved mainly by inclusion of fastest, which is one word with two morphemes: fast, -est.)

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How Does a Word Become a Word?

Pop Quiz

Applying what we’ve discussed about word roots, identify the root in each following word. Some can be recognizable English words, and others can be from original roots such as Latin or Greek.

1. international

2. nonexistent

3. contradict

4. enlightenment

5. destruction

Pop Quiz Answers

1. international

2. nonexistent

3. contradict

4. enlightenment

5. destruction

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If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the «Comment» box at the bottom of this page.

Asked by: Mr. Wilhelm Kulas I

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A word root is the base part of a word (i.e., less any prefixes and suffixes). To change the meaning of a word, a prefix can be added to the front of the word root, or a suffix can be added to the back. Quite often, a prefix and a suffix are added to a word root to change the meaning.

What words have roots?

10 letter words containing root

Do all roots words?

About 60% of all English words have Latin or Greek origins. Roots give words their fixed meaning. Prefixes and suffixes can then be attached to the roots to form new words. A group of letters with a special meaning appearing at the end of a word is called a suffix.

How do you know if a word is a root?

A root can be any part of a word that carries meaning: the beginning, middle or end. Prefixes, bases, and suffixes are types of roots. The prefix appears at the beginning of a word, the base in the middle and the suffix at the end. Most English root words came from the Greek and Latin languages.

What words are not roots?

Terms in this set (5)

15 related questions found

Root Meaning Examples ann(u), enn yearly annual, annuity, anniversary, millennium arch chief, first, rule architect, archaic, monarchy aud hearing audio, audience, audition, audiovisual, auditorium, inaudible ced(e), ceed, cess, ceas to go, to yield succeed, proceed, process, precede, recede, exceed, succession, accessible, cease, cessation chron time chronic, chronology, chronicle, synchronize, anachronism dem(o) the people democracy, demography, demagogue, endemic, pandemic dic(t) speak, tell dictate, dictation, diction, dictator, verdict, predict, contradict, dictionary fin end, ended, finished final, finite, finish, finale, confine, refine, define fix repair, attach fix, fixation, fixture, affix, prefix, suffix flex, flect bend flex, reflex, flexible, inflexibility, reflect, deflect fort strength, strong effort, fort, forte, fortify, fortitude form shape, resemble form, format, formulate, formal, formula, conform, perform fract, frag, frai break fracture, infraction, fraction, refract, fragile, frail gen birth, race, produce gene, genesis, genetics, eugenics, genealogy, generate, generous, antigen, pathogen geo earth geology, geologist, geometry, geography, geographer, geopolitical grad, gress, gree go, step grade, gradual, graduate, digress, progress, degree graph to write, to draw graph, graphic, autograph, biography, photograph, telegraph, demographic grav heavy, weighty grave, gravity, aggravate, gravitate her(e), hes stick adhere, cohere, cohesion, inherent, hereditary, hesitate hydr(o) water dehydrate, hydroelectric, hydrogen, hydropower liber, liver free liberty, liberal, liberalize, deliverance liter letters literary, literature, literal, alliteration, obliterate meter measure meter, thermometer, diameter, barometer mob, mov, mot move motion, remove, mobile, motor pel, puls drive, push, urge compel, dispel, expel, repel, propel, pulse, impulse, pulsate, compulsory, expulsion, repulsive pend, pens hang, weigh pendant, pendulum, suspend, appendage, pensive, append phon sound microphone, phonograph, telephone , symphony, phonetic photo light photograph, photocopy, photon, photosynthesis, telephoto, photometer, photosensitive plu(r) more plural, pluralist, plus poli city metropolis, megalopolis, acropolis, police, politics pon, pos, pound place, put component, opponent, proponent, expose, impose, deposit, postpone, posture, position, expound, impound pop people population, populous, popular port carry porter, portable, transport, report, export, support, import, important prin, prim(e) first primary, primitive, primacy, primal, prince, principal rupt to break disrupt, interrupt, rupture, corrupt, abrupt sci know science, conscious, omniscient sec(t) cut intersect, transect, dissect, secant, section sent, sens feel, think sentiment, consent, resent, dissent, sentimental, sense, sensation, sensitive, sensory, dissension sequ, secu, sue follow sequence, consequence, sequel, subsequent, prosecute, consecutive, second, ensue, pursue serv save, serve, keep servant, service, subservient, servitude, preserve, conserve, reservation, deserve, conservation, observe sign(i) sign, mark, seal signal, signature, design, insignia, significant simil, simul like, resembling similar, assimilate, simulate, simulacrum, simultaneous solv, solu(t) loosen, explain solve, solvent, absolve, resolve, soluble, solution, resolution, resolute spect see respect, inspection, inspector, spectator, spectacles, prospect, aspect stru(ct), str(o)y build, form instruct, instruction, construction, reconstruction, obstruct, destruction, infrastructure, construe, instrument, instrumental, industry, ministry tem(po) time tempo, temporary, extemporaneously, contemporary, ver(i) true very, aver, verdict, verity, verify, verisimilitude, veracity vid, vis see video, evident, provide, visible, revise, supervise, vista, visit, vision viv(i), vita alive, life revive, survive, vivid, vivacious, vitality, vital, vitamins, revitalize volv, vol(t) turn about, roll revolve, convolution, revolt, evolution

Morphemica is one of the most difficult topics for a child. Correctly divide the word into parts can not every schoolboy. Nevertheless, the ability to correctly identify parts of the word is a necessary condition for the assimilation of a number of rules of Russian spelling.

Russian language: what is the root of the word

Morpheme is a significant part of the word. First, with the morphemic analysis, the foundation and the ending are distinguished. The basis is the immutable part of the word, and the ending is the variable and pointing to the form of the word. For example, in the word «cows» cows — this is the basis, and you — this is the ending. The basis of the word includes the following parts of the word (morpheme) — prefix, root, ending. An important morpheme, denoted by an arc, is the root of the word.

What is the root of the word? The root of the word is a common part of the related words. What words are called crocheted? The root of one root is one root, while the other morphemes are different. For example, high — height, leaf — foliage, daddy — daddy, sister — sister.

How to find root words

1. There are words with the same roots, but notwhich are crooked. So, in the adjectives «peaceful» and «world» one can single out the root-world, but words will not be single-root, since in the first case the adjective is formed from the word «peace» in the meaning «without war», and in the second — in the meaning » what is around, the universe. » Lexical differences of words can not make words self-root.
2. You should not mix root words and forms of one word. For example, the words «carrots» and «carrots» are single-root words, and «carrots» and «carrots» are word forms of the word «carrot».
3. Raw words do not necessarily belong toone part of speech. So, if «carrots» and «carrots» are nouns, then «run» and «run» are a noun and a verb, and «fun» and «hilarious» are an adverb and an adjective.
4. Do not forget that apart from the root, there is a word in the wordprefixes and suffixes. If you can select them, then finding the root words will be much easier. For example, the word «chin». In it, you can select the prefix of sub-, suffix -ok and root -brod-. So, now you can pick up the root words: bearded, beard, beardless.
5. Difficulties can arise because of historicalalternating consonants. Outwardly, the roots are different, but the meaning is preserved. The fact is that earlier the sound of Russian speech was different from what one can hear today. Due to historical changes in the sound structure of the language, the same root in different words may sound different.

Some examples:

• to-h «: hands / a — hand» / k / a
• k-u-h «: n» uh / — n «u / o — n» u «/ n / w
• Ms.: legs / a — knife / c / a
• Mrs.-z: friend / — friends / and / «- friends» / ya
• x-w: yx / o-yw / u

Although the final consonants in the roots differ, the presented pairs of words are single-root.

What is a root orthogram?

Why do we need to highlight the root of the word and look forroot words? The fact is that one of the basic principles of Russian orthography (spelling) is a morphemic principle. It is manifested, for example, in the rule «The Uncorrected Vowel at the Root of the Word» or in the rule «Unpronounceable Consonant in the Root of the Word».

In the first case, it is necessary to find such a single root word, so that the verified vowel is under stress. For example, in_water — water, с_стра — sister, д_ловой — business.

In the second case, it is necessary to find a word such that an unpronounceable consonant is well audible. For example, it’s an honor, a crunch, a crunch.

Not only in these cases is it worth remembering what the root of the word is. Another important rule is based on the ability to allocate a root.

Alternating vowels in the root

Because of the same historical reasons in someroot words are written different vowels. For example, in the roots with alternating vowels e-u (-ber- -bir-, -per-pir-, -mer- — world-, -style -style, -der -dir, etc.), the letter «u «is written only when the root suffix -a- follows, for example: die — die, spread — spread, tear — razdert, shine — shine.

The alternating roots are also:

lag-lodges, kas-kos, floating-pilov, clan-clone, creature creature, mac-mok, har-mountains, zarzor, skach-scoch, equal-level, rastro-rasch.

Read more about this here.